In need of MORE "anger management"!!

[Gimpy]

I'm gonna have to spend some more "quality time" with my PTSD & anger management counselor in the next few days cause I nearly had to WRING A WOMANS' NECK today at my VA hospital!

Was standing in line at the pharmacy prescription turn-in window when this B---H behind me started bitchun & moanin about how long it was takin for her and her husband to get his prescription filled. And, she started telling evryone in line (about 10 or 12 of us) how SHe and HE would NEVER come to the VA hospital for R-E-A-L inpatient or outpatient treatment cause THEY had the money to get their own private doctors. And, the ONLY reason they were there was to get their seven-dollar co-pay medications offered to ALL veterans now. (Now I KNOW they must have the $$$$$ she was talkin about cause I saw them drive up in a NEW 2002 Mercedes Benz 500 class sedan when I was gimpin my young ass in the front door).

Welllllll, y'all know me by now, don't-cha? I lit into her smart-ass like a frustrated southern Baptist preacher whose whole congregation was asleep while he was deliverin his sermon!

At first I asked her (nicely I might add, with ALL my suthern "graciousness") if her husband was a "disabled vet"---she said NO, we just come here to get the "cheap" medicine. THAT'S WHEN I LET HER HAVE IT!

I won't go into ALL of the "tirade" I let her (and him) have, but needless to say they left with a little "different" perspective of WHO shloud be "eligible" for these so-called NEW benefits offered now to ALL veterans!

I basically told her & him that THEY were the problem that was now causing the "back-up" at ALL VA hospitals & clinics. When Congress opened up the VA to ALL veterans for medical care & "cheap" prescription meds (they were only a 2 dollar co-pay, now at 7 dollar co-pay) REGARDLESS of whether their "conditions" were "service-connected" or NOT is why SHE & HIM were now waiting so freakin long in that damn line with the rest of us! I told her what Congress SHOULD have done (if anything) was offer these vets a prescription CARD (similar to Medicare) where they could take their G--Damn "co-pay" to a private pharmacy if their conditions waranted medication., AND "service-connected" vets as well if they so desire. But, she and him should get back in their expensive new car, and take their expensive little "asses" out of the way of the vets that DON'T have the $$$$$ to go elsewhere for their treatment & drugs!!!!!!!

A few of the guys in line started sayin ---- HELL YES!! GO AWAY!!

Anyway, my blood pressure is UP slightly and I guess I'll go and get some of my "cheap" meds!!


Nighty---nite!!

[Keith_Hixson]

Preach It Brother, Preach It. I knew you were a preacher.

I guess its their right if he served. But the VA medical was set up for those who had service connect injuries and those who can't afford medical treatment. But on the other hand if he did serve it was their right inspite of their income. But, I agree it is ruining the intent of the provision.

Keith

[sfc_darrel]

and retired military to get health care for life.

Sorry Keith but I'm with Gimpy

[Tamaroa]

I am a veteran. I gave my country 4 years of my life when I did not have to. When this program started. I applied for it. Why not? If I am deemed eligible and my country wants to help me, I am all for it. I do NOT have any service connected disability but so what! I told them what my insurance was and whenever possible, I take advantage of the program that MY country offered ME. Right now the only thing I use it for is Vision care. When I first signed up, I received an eye exam free and a free pair of glasses. The next time around, I was told it would cost 57.50. Which is fine with me. It is still a lot less expensive then an eye exam plus glasses from a normal provider.

By the way, when I applied for my first and only mortgage I ever had, the VA DENIED it because my mortgage would have been twice my annual salary. So since I was DENIED something that I was told I would be eligible for as VETERAN, I will take advantage of anything the government throws my way.

So Gimpy, don't let your BP go up over something the guy was eligible for in the first place. Do you berate people who complain about people taking too long in long lines at Shop Rite? Whats the difference? If you are part of a program that becomes popular, waiting becomes a factor. How about the DMV in your state? Whats the difference?

Bill

A VETERAN PERIOD

[Arrow]

There are a lot of Vets still in the work force in this area that would not let the VA touch them with a ten foot pole. Their senior trip to Vietnam created a whole lot of distrust for Uncle Sam with his hand extended. Their worst fear is to lose the ability to work and have to go to the VA for medical care. Having experienced it up close and personal regard a loved one I have to say their fears are not unfounded. I hope they all die standing up at their jobs with their boots on flyin' the California howdy to Uncle Sam and his experiment in medical? care?...


Sometimes you win
Sometimes you won't
Sometimes you beat that devil
Sometimes you don't
We're all just killin' time
Til the good Lord calls us home
And the best that you can hope for
Is to die with your boots on

Toby Keith/Jim Femino (Die With Your Boots On)

[Arrow]

telling it like it is...

[Gimpy]

Lookee here Tamora, bill, whoever.

I'm sending you a quarter in the mail so you can go out and buy yourself a freakin CLUE! Cause you're evidently seriously LACKING in that department----

Now lemme see if I got this right. You're gonna "take advantage of ANYTHNG the government throws your way". Specifically (your words) because YOU were turned down by the VA for a home mortage, supposedly because your mortgage would be TWICE what your annual salary was, huh?? WELL---DUH!!

The damn VA DOES NOT finance "home loans" in the FIRST PLACE!
All they do is "guarantee" the loan amount to the MORTGAGE COMPANY that approves your loan and gives you the $$$$ under VA gudelines! ALL MORTAGE COMPANIES have "qualifying" criteria that YOU MUST MEET before they'll lend you the money. What planet have YOU been on for the past 40 or so years???

Yep, your JUST the kind of "JUST A VETERAN" we need alright. Instead of raising HELL with Congress to see that the most serious, disabled veterans are taken care of FIRST rather than the folks like yourself. You've just decided to "take advantage of ANYTHING the government throws my way", huh??

Well, I got some "advice" for ya if you're EVER in front of ME in line at a VA facillity----GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY!!!!! Cause I just might STEP on your A$$ if you don't MOVE!!

PS----I don't think you should be "denied" any benefits or treatment----just don't hinder or cause problems for those of US that may possibly be slightly more "entitled" to have that same "stuff" thrown at us!!!



PPS---And, if I have to "explain" the difference of Shop Rite--the state DMV and the VA to you----then you REALLY are a "lost cause"!

[David]

Gimpy, I do not use the VA nor am I disabled but I do understand your frustration. While your anger is justified I believe it is misdirected at Tamaroa. This whole fiasco is yet another underfunded program started by ahole politicians to make brownie points with voters. They do not intent to have it work smoothly nor will it until more work is done to bring pressure on the powers that be to fulfill there promises to the letter rather then pay lip service to those that gave them the right to breath free air. I think our anger could be more productive focused on the people that really cause these problems rather then our brothers in arms, whether or not they saw combat or were disabled as a result thereof.

[Tamaroa]

The reference to Shoprite, DMV, etc, is a reference to people waiting in line as I have done on numerous ocasions and either waited forever due to incompetent clerks or people on line creating mayhem. That and nothing else.

Regarding the VA mortgage, i was making the paltry sum of 16K at the time and the mortgage was 34 K. I missed out on a low interest loan because of language that I was not aware of when I received my benefits package. I did use my G.I. bill benefits to go to college.

The gentleman you were referring to is allowed by law to claim those benefits, just as I am allowed to claim them. Would you like me to roll over and play dead and say yessiree take my benefits away even though I'm entitled to them? I won't accept them -- just so those with service disconnected disabilities can have a shorter line or a bigger pot from which to draw. I really don't get your arguement Gimpy. We are all vets and should be accorded the same benefits. Granted those with service connected disabilities or MOH winners should and do have a bigger piece of the pie, but as I said before -- If I am entitled to a benefit, I will apply for it. I am sorry if you have a problem with that.

Bill


P.S. One more very important point!! I did not go looking for this. The Rockland County VA veteran's Rep went all over the county trumpeting this program ASKING us to sign up for it. I took it as a sign that veterans were being looked at in a positive light. Go figure -- other veterans would resent me for taking advantage of a program offered by the VA. Such is life.

[Andy]

Someone Please correct me if I?m wrong. As I understood it the government decided to start taking care of it?s vets after the Civil War. The Ken Burns PBS series on the Civil War made some comment that in one of the states in the deep south, Alabama I think, 20% of the state budget in 1866 was to fit vets with artificial limbs. Eventually the Fed?s took over. But it seems that Veterans Assistance was intended only for those injured by bullet or disease during the war.
After WWII the GI Bill was intended to give service people a chance to make up for the 4 years they lost but VA hospitals were still for people with some service connected malady. I don?t harbor any ill-will towards anyone getting assistance from the VA, but service connected injuries seems like they should be given priority. Service connected injured vets who have no option but to use the VA should always be placed at the front of the line.
Someone who served in time of peace who has no injury, by president, doesn?t have the same right to VA medical assistance as a combat injured vet. In my eyes, the combat vet who was injured earned his place at the front of the line. Matter of fact it seems like common courtesy. If a person in a wheel chair is trying to get into a building where the doors open out, would you hold the door for the guy? Wouldn't that be the only decent thing to do?
To treat everyone equally, under these circumstances sounds a little too much like socialism at it?s worst.
Feel free to throw rocks, but I?ve always been interested in the original intent of the law and then shake my head as it is twisted and misinterpreted over the years. (Like the 2nd Amendment, separation of church and state, etc.)

Stay healthy,
Andy